Crystal Palace soared into their first European final on Thursday, completing an emphatic 5-2 aggregate win over Shakhtar Donetsk to give manager Oliver Glasner the chance of a fairytale end to his golden reign.
The Eagles claimed a 2-1 victory over the exiled Ukrainian team in the second leg of their UEFA Conference League semi-final thanks to an own goal from Pedro Henrique and an Ismaila Sarr strike.
Glasner's men will face Rayo Vallecano in the final in Leipzig later this month after the Spanish side beat Strasbourg 2-0 on aggregate.
"We always talked before, this is why when we were little boys we always wanted to become professional football players, and told the players this is the reward we get, and this is the reward you can't buy," the Palace boss told TNT Sports.
"I said this after the FA Cup final (in 2025). Now we're playing the next final together, so it's amazing what this group of players are doing for Crystal Palace."
Shakhtar, desperate to recover from their 3-1 defeat in the first leg, started strongly in south London but Palace strengthened their grip on the tie at a crackling Selhurst Park in the 25th minute after a surging attack.
Dmytro Riznyk palmed away Adam Wharton's stinging long-range shot but was helpless as Daniel Munoz's follow-up from a tight angle flicked off Henrique and flew past him.
Eguinaldo gave the visitors hope with a nonchalant finish into the top corner in the 34th minute.
Palace forward Jean-Philippe Mateta crashed a shot against the post with an audacious scissor-kick shortly before the interval as the home side continued to threaten.
The tie was effectively over soon after the restart when Sarr turned in Tyrick Mitchell's cross from close range for his ninth goal in the competition this season.
Palace saw out the game comfortably, relishing the wild scenes of celebration at the final whistle.
The final in Leipzig on May 27 will be Glasner's final match in charge of Palace after he announced earlier this season that he would leave when his contract expires next month.
The 51-year-old Austrian, who arrived early in 2024, has overseen a golden period for Palace, guiding them to a 1-0 win over Manchester City in last season's FA Cup final -- the club's first major trophy.
Palace then beat Liverpool on penalties in the season-opening Community Shield.
The Premier League club are only in Europe's third-tier competition because they were demoted from the Europa League before the start of the season after UEFA ruled they had breached multi-club ownership rules.
Winning the Conference League would guarantee entry into next season's Europa League.
Glasner, who won the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022, said he had never imagined reaching a continental final with Palace.
"For me personally, it's massive because everybody who knows me, especially when I announced to leave, it was for me, more of a duty to work even harder, if this is possible, to deliver as a manager, to support the players, to support the group, and to make our fans proud.
"If you wish something, you always want your last game not to play for nothing. So you want to play for silverware, and now we can play for European silverware, and what I can promise, we will give everything we have to bring it here back to Selhurst."
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